001Thank you all for being patient as we get this virtual meeting going. Um, and we will go ahead and begin with a moment of silence. If you'll please stand Thank you. You may be seated. Again, I want to welcome you tonight to this virtual meeting and call this meeting to order at 510. Tonight's public comment and call to the public will be done in a virtual setting by filling out the form linked in the agenda item 4B titled public comment and call to the public. Please note the form must be completed before we get to that section in the agenda. Comments will be read into the record by artificial intelligence. When filling out the form, please make sure all comments follow policy 1-302. Comments that do not adhere to our policy will not be read.
002However, they will be shared with the board in this virtual meeting. As with any in-person meetings, the speaker must be virtually present for their comment to be read. If you wish to submit a comment, please make sure the name phone number you use on the comment form matches your virtual name and phone displayed. Thank you. We are now going to move to pledge of allegiance. Uh Mr. Thompson, will you please lead us in that? Please stand. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May be seated. We will begin tonight's meeting by playing a video on our governing board procedures and then I will
003read a statement. Welcome to the Mesa Public Schools governing board meeting. We appreciate your interest in the district. The five elected governing board members serve without compensation and volunteer countless hours. The president and the clerk of the board are elected in January. Under state law, the governing board may only discuss and vote on matters that are on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Agendas are posted a minimum of 24 hours in advance on the Mesa Public Schools website and in the curriculum services center. Copies of tonight's agenda are located in the lobby. The public may speak on any item of business on the agenda that the board discusses or requires the board to take action. If you wish to comment on an action or discussion item, please complete a request to address the board form before
004the item is discussed. The form is located in the lobby. Members of the public will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak once recognized by the governing board president. Please state your name before you speak. We ask that all speakers show respect and courtesy to others. During the second regular meeting of each month, the agenda will include a call to the public, which is an opportunity to speak to the governing board about a school district matter that is not on the agenda. Please submit a request to address the board form to participate in the call to the public. If you would like the board to consider adding an item to a future agenda, you may submit your request in writing to the board at least five working days before that meeting. The superintendent
005or governing board president will consider your request. Thank you for your attendance and involvement in tonight's meeting. This is an official governing board meeting. The board has important business to conduct that is essential to the operation of the district. It is a governing board's president's responsibility to maintain proper order so the board can conduct its business in an orderly and efficient matter manner. To my fellow board members and staff, because we are virtual, please keep your microphones on mute until you request to speak so we can keep the background noise at a minimum. Um, and we'll move now on to our um our calendar. Dr. Foris, will you please review the board calendar with us? Thank you very much, Madame President. Uh June 10th is our summer start time for board meetings. Five o'clock. Just
006like uh this evening, we will begin that will be an in-person meeting. Again, uh June 10th scheduled at 5:00. On June 24th, our summer start time is 5:00 p.m. There will be a executive session scheduled at the end of that board meeting. Um and that is so that the governing board can receive legal advice. On July 8th, we have a summer start time at 5:00 p.m. And then July 22nd is also a summer start time at 5:00 p.m. Also want to uh let our public know that starting in August, there will be a change uh to the governing board meeting days and times. In August, the regular governing board meetings will uh be on Thursdays. It'll be the second and fourth Thursday of the month. We will continue to post the board agenda the Friday
007before. And with that, that concludes the calendar. Thank you, Dr. Foris. We will now move into the public comment section. Just a quick reminder that policy 1-302 says that call to the public is limited to issues within the jurisdiction of the board. Mrs. Chaffy, how many speakers do we have signed up tonight? We currently have five speakers signed up. Okay. Thank you. We are going to take a quick recess to get set up for the virtual public comment and call to the public. Um hope we should be back in about 5 minutes. So if you'll just hang tight and we will be back shortly. The governing board welcome Mrs. Hutchinson, I see that you're unmuted, but I didn't hear you talk. Can you do a test? Can you hear me now? Yes, I can. Thank
008you so much. Yeah, it was for some reason it was a mirror setting or something and I just I just unccllicked it and I'm good. Thanks for your patience, guys. Okay, thank you all for your patience. I think we're ready tonight. We have uh the comments tonight will be read by AI. Um and Miss Kirby, we're going to turn the time over to you. The governing board welcomes comments from the public on non-aggenda items during the call to the public. Please remember, as a general rule, public comments will be limited to minutes. And the duration of an open call to the public will be 15 minutes. The president may set specific time limits for speakers and the duration of the call to the public to maximize the opportunity for individuals to offer their viewpoints. Comments
009must pertain to a matter that is within the jurisdiction of the governing board. This is not an appropriate forum to complain about an employee, student, or others. Please use the procedures established in policy 1-302 for this purpose. State law prohibits board members from commenting on or discussing the matters presented at the end of the call to the public. The board may ask the superintendent to review the issue or place it on a future agenda. A board member may also briefly respond to criticism of a board member or the governing board. Thank you for allowing this meeting to be conducted in a peaceful and productive manner. This comment is from Kelly Berg on agenda item AG 2025 to 26 compensation plan and budget update. Madame President, board members and superintendency, I am Kelly, math teacher at
010Dobson High School and president of the Mesa Education Association. I would like to speak tonight on behalf of the compensation package that is being brought forward to you this evening. Through the meet and confer process with the district administrators, classified employees, and classified supervisors, we were all able to agree upon the proposals in the compensation package for the 2025 to 2026 school year. With limited funding this year, our focus was on improving the working conditions where possible. All employee groups work together to improve language and add clarification in all of our working conditions documents. The recommendations we are providing to you have been carefully created to honor the employees in all groups who serve our students and community. It is my hope that you will approve these recommendations. The additional one-time funding from the state
011is providing the means for the $900 stipend for all returning employees next year. Even though it is just one-time funding, it will still be a significant amount of pay for some employees. Thank you for your consideration in all of these matters. This comment is from Sandra Quillantang on agenda item 4B, public comment and call to the public. Hello, my name is Sandra and we are Mesa residents. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share why I recently decided to move our son from public school to a private Christian school. From a very early age, I knew God had blessed our son with a high level of cognitive ability. He's been reading since he was two and has never really had to put too much effort in any subject to achieve his average grade of
012an A in honors classes in the public school system. Over winter break this year, our son shared with me that his group of friends would on a daily basis refer to him as or gay, which he is not. And when he would bring his Bible to school and read it at lunch, they would say he was depressed. These were his friends, and I know them well, and I don't believe they were bullying him, but based on conversations they would have at my house, I wasn't completely surprised about their comments. I just didn't realize this was happening daily. These kids are good kids with good hearts, but their values are very driven by worldly standards as opposed to God's word. This was initially the reason we felt called to move our son to a private Christian
013school. His new school has challenged him academically. He used to be able to forget to turn in an assignment and be given full credit when he turned it in or perhaps scored low on a test and given the opportunity to retake it and change his grade. At his new school, there are no second chances. If you don't put in the effort or you're not organized, you will simply get a zero. For the first time in all of his school years, our son has come home, opened up his books, and has averaged about an hour and a half of studying, sometimes even more. His new school holds him accountable, and I appreciate that. His goals are to attend major universities like USC or Belmont. And if that is where God places him, he will now be
014much more prepared for the level of responsibility they are expected to have at these universities. We weren't all created to want to achieve a place in a top-notch university, but we were all created for excellence. And I truly believe that the level of education, which is inclusive of social environments in our school, is critical in shaping the future achievements of our next generations. Thank you. This comment is from Joshua Quillentang on agenda item 4B. Public comment and call to the public. Hello everyone, my name is Joshua. I am going to be a sophomore next year and I have been moved schools 10 times in my life within the state of Arizona, the majority of them being public schools. It has been a decent experience until high school hit. I attended a public high school where
015the academics were not challenging at all. The teachers didn't put in much effort in their teaching or caring of the students. And on the social aspect at public high school, those who I called my friends were not the best influence on me. Although they were nice, they didn't lead the best examples. And it might not have been their fault, but the cold worldly environment that we have been put in and what they have accepted into their brains and hearts. In public school, there is vaping problems. The kids that call me names and make fun of me for being a Christ follower. And there are racial slurs written all over on the walls and the bathrooms. I mean, if you take a look at the things I've seen and heard some of the stuff I have
016heard, I don't think you'd want to go back to your own school. Both the academic and social sides of public school really moved me and my family to private Christian school where I see that my teachers really care about me. My friends are exceptional role models, and the curriculum is rigorous and allows me to really do my best and prepares me for my future. This comment is from Tiffany Matthews on agenda item AG 2025 to 26 compensation plan and budget update. My name is Tiffany Matthews and I am the MESPA president. MESPA represents all of our classified employees. I'd like to take a moment to speak about the MESPA meet and confer process this year. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the employee associations as well as the district representatives who dedicated
017significant time and effort throughout this process. In addition to our regularly scheduled meetings, we held smaller group sessions to dive deeper into discussions and then reconvened with the larger group to share findings and continue meaningful dialogue. We made substantial progress on improving working conditions and successfully established a collaborative agreement, one that ensured every group's voice was heard and respected. We deeply appreciate the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation that guided these efforts as all employee groups work together toward a shared goal, doing what is best for our employees so that we can best serve our students. At the same time, we want to acknowledge the hardship felt by many classified employees who lost their positions this year. While we are grateful for the one-time across the board stipend, particularly for those returning and taking on
018additional responsibilities, it is a bittersweet gesture given the loss of valued colleagues. Finally, we are appreciative of the inclusion of a reopener clause which allows us to return to the table should the state allocate additional funding. Thank you again for your time, partnership, and continued commitment to our district community. This comment and that is the end of public comment for people that are present. Thank you. Thank you for the comments and thank you for those running the comments and getting that all set up. We appreciate it. I know that uh took some time. So, thank you. We will now be moving on to our um review of the agenda. Um we will now review the consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda are approved with one vote with no discussion. If a board member
019would like to pull a consent agenda item, please do so now. Don't see any. We will continue moving on to now our personnel request. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel request including the addendum? So moved. I'll second. It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Keru, you please take our vote. Oh, sorry. I apologize. I can see the screen now. Okay. With a vote of five yays, we've approved the personnel request, including the addendum. With this approval, we do have two incoming principles. We will recognize them at the June 10th board meeting. Moving on to our consent agenda items. All items will be considered as a group and will be approved with one motion. If a board member would like to spotlight or comment on a consent agenda item,
020please do so after the vote. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda according to the recommended action for each item? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? with a vote of five yes, you've approved the consent agenda items according to the recommended action for each item. Moving now to eight action items. Do I have a motion to approve the TW 202526 contract renewals? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. I'll second. We got two. Thank you. Uh Mr. Thompson, can you give us some background on this item? Thank you, Madam President. Uh members of the board, yes. This evening you have three items in front of you that are what we've affectionately started to call uh the opening
021of the store. Uh so this is preparing for the process of using contracts for next year and procurement and our staff have to get ready to uh allow uh the purchasing that occurs on these contracts uh over the next few months. The lists that you have are for renewal of contracts that have e either been awarded uh as in uh item A that we awarded and and processed as Mesa public schools. We also use cooperative contracts and we also have some sole source. uh soul source specifically um I want to address real quickly because it it is a long list is because um a lot of times when we've done a procurement uh we've done it with a vendor that uh might be a critical system like our student information system or our accounting system
022and once the five years runs out uh we might continue on with that because it would be more costly to move to a new contract. doesn't mean we won't consider it but um as long as we continue with that vendor they become sole source. So understand that most soul source started as a bid process and then transfers to a sole source. Um as I said these these are contract openings. This the amounts that you're approving this evening were established based on historical patterns of spending. I often get asked what controls as a board do we have over this? your control over the spending comes from your approval of the budget uh not really from the awarding of the contract because uh these might be used by multiple different areas of funding throughout the district. So
023it doesn't mean that u any one of these is is going to be spent in our operations budget or something like that for example. So the expense side of of the use of the contract is controlled specifically uh by the budgetary restraints that we'll be approving uh as we did when we revised the budget in May and as you adopt a new budget for next year. So that's kind of the historical background of this process. It's an annual process. All of the contracts were brought to the board and approved with the full understanding of those contracts at the time. We also, I want to highlight, um, have on our public website under procurement a full list of all of our vendors, who's been awarded for that contract, and what that contract does. That's been in
024place for uh two years now as we move to try to increase the transparency uh financial transparency for the district. The procurement office made that a goal of theirs two years ago and uh that list uh complements the lists you have uh this evening. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Appreciate that. Any board members, any questions, discussion? Um yeah, real quick under the first the this first set we have an item for employee travel. Um I'm assuming that any employee travel for training or anything that is out of state comes to the board prior to anybody allowing out of state travel. Is that for training? Is that accurate? I'm waiting to see if anybody else is going to jump in, but I'll jump in. Yes. Uh out of state out ofstate travel does need board
025approval. Uh this year we've also in light of uh budget restraints uh put in additional uh guide rails for ourself uh for the use of travel understanding that um we have to we have to be tight on our budget. So yes. Yes. And yes. Okay. Good. Okay. And then my other only other question in regard to these con well actually two under the food service is there a possibility that our funding is going to be reduced with um possible changes to US the USDA and yes uh fair fair question right now we do not have any information uh the the cuts that um have already happened uh there was a cut to uh buying locally a program that was in place for a few years. Uh that's already taken place. Uh there are discussions that
026we're aware of but no specifics on cuts to our food program at this time. Okay. And then my final question is these are maximums, correct? So these would be the amount um yeah that's a great question. Um so these are amounts that the um opening of the store can now spend up to based on historical trend. If we get to that amount, then you often see this come back to you as a hey, we've exceeded the amount that we need and here's the reasoning why and we bring it back to you for an additional increase at that time. So yes, they are really maximums until we bring them back for a potential increase. Uh and again we always explain why we need the increase and uh what because again at this time of the year
027it's it's it's a bit of a guessing game based on historical but uh somebody might want more of something or we might get an opportunity like we've been talking about with uh technology where it might be advantageous for us to purchase something uh that we weren't planning on at the time. So again, these are limits. So yes, they are maximums. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're voting on that later uh on item D. So, right. Yes. Yeah, that's just an example, but yes, that would be one where again, opportunities have caused us to need to increase again a contract that was limited at the time. Thank you. Any other discussion on this item? Okay. Appreciate the discussion and Mr. Thompson, your help. Um, Miss Kirby, I think we're ready for a vote. the vote of five
028years. We have approved the 202526 contract renewals. Moving on, do I have a motion to approve the 202526 cooperative contract renewals? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion on this item? Okay, seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? For the vote of 58, you've approved the 202526 cooperative contract renewals. Moving now to C. Do I have a motion to approve the annual soul source approvals for 202526? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Board members, any discussion on this? I have a quick question. Yes. Um, it should hopefully be quick. So several of these I notice and uh possibly in the other um contracts that we are renewing some of these like for example fingerprinting um is this the district the
029district's um overall outlay or um is this what we pay but we get reimbursed because people are responsible for paying for their own fingerprinting for example. Does that make sense? If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Thompson, if you can help me out, this is uh ones that we submit. For example, uh volunteers, we're required to pay for background check. The dollar value is low. That doesn't apply to all employees. Uh for new hire employees, we do direct them to get uh fingerprinted at certain local places and they go through that on their own, but we guide them to where to go. So, this is more or less likely uh volunteers. Okay. I didn't realize that volunteers didn't have to pay for their own fingerprinting. No. And they're not uh we're not able to charge them. Oh,
030that's good to know. Any other discussion? Okay, seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? I don't see a voting button. So, Mrs. Benson votes yay. Thank you. With a vote of 58, you've approved the annual soul source approvals for 202526. Moving now to D. Do I have a motion to approve a contract increase for $1 million for Apple computers for our career and technical education programs? So move. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Rachel moved. and Marcy seconded. Thank you. Any discussion? I have a question. Yes. So, I think I think I know the answer to this, but just uh for the sake of transparency, uh can somebody explain how this contract is different than the contracts we had last month, there were some laptops that were approved for
031CTE programming. And at that point, we were explaining they're needed, but also we're trying to get ahead of price increases. And so could we get a little bit of background on uh these additional computer contracts? Yes. U Madame President, member Walden, due to the available uh availability of some additional CATED funds. Um we were able to um work with Apple on that last refresh that we had and they had a fast turnaround time. We have a refresh cycle every year that we look at and to see who needs that refresh. And because of that fast turnaround time and the availability of funds, we wanted to be able to use those funds right now to do the refresh a little bit early. Because of um the availability to get those imaged and ready to go by
032the first day of school, we would be able to receive these computers that were already on the slate for next year to be refreshed by June 30th. Um, so these will close out the additional uh multimedia programs that needed um to be refreshed next year and teachers will then have those available that first day of instruction as opposed to refreshing midyear um and interrupting instruction as well as hopefully avoiding extra tariffs and increase in prices. Yeah. And this this goes directly into the work that the students are doing in the classroom, right? That's correct. It's for the multimedia classrooms. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions, discussion? Okay, seeing none, Miss Kirby, please take our vote. With a vote of five days, you have approved a contract increase for $1 million for Apple computers
033for our career and technical education programs. Moving to E. Do I have a motion to approve the instructional resources for MA67, Financial Algebra and MA57, Introduction to to Statistics? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Any discussion? No, these all went through the 60-day open process and everything, right? And I mean, I I glanced they they uh look I I love that they're tying algebra to actual finances because people don't actually understand that's what they're doing when they are looking at personal finance. You're actually using algebra. Yes. Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, Miss Keruyu, please take our vote. [Applause] The vote of five, you have approved the instructional resources for MA67 financial algebra and MA57 introduction to to statistics. Moving now [Music] to F. Do I have a
034motion to approve the 202526 stipened and temporary salary schedule? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? I've really appreciated superintendency uh color coding the stipen schedule so we could see what already existed but was being added and what was new. That was really helpful because none of us are going to memorize 200 rows of stipen schedules. So, thank you for putting in that extra work and and and that helped us hone in on on what the changes were and uh ask the right questions in our check-ins. Agreed. I am always up for color coding. So, thank you. Superintendenc. Any other discussion? Oh, Sharon. Yes, I saw I have questions as always because I am the input queen. Um, all right. So, I noticed a couple of um stipens um
035are duplicates, but there's no explanation as to why. So, I can make an assumption. Uh, for example, there are two orchestras, there's two newspapers, there's two dramas, there's two AVID coordinators, just as an example with two different amounts. Um, for clarity sake, I think, and I think we could still vote to approve these. Um uh I think I'm not suggesting we change amounts or anything, but for clarity sake, like I assume the the um higher level for orchestra at the 3675 would be for high school orchestra teacher and the uh 2100 would uh be for orchestra at junior high possibly. But for clarity sake and for um like clear this is if I'm but I I think we need to add a descriptor. Those were just four that I that I noticed. And is that
036assumption correct Mr. Wing? Yeah you are correct. Good idea. We have it in our notes page but we need to put it in the description page in like parenthesis or something like that. Uh so the first one in orchestra using that as example it is for high schools and then the 2100's for junior high schools. This was approved in a pre this was approved in detail in a previous mafur meeting but doesn't doesn't stand out in the sheet you have. So you are correct. Okay. And we'll make we'll make those changes just to make sure that it's clear. And then I had another question there. There was one that was noted um uh for coaching and um I've mentioned this to you before when there there's a and I don't remember what sport it is.
037it might be track or something where if you're coaching both the boys and the girls uh you get one amount but if you're just coaching one or the other uh what do we do when we have situations where like within the same sport for example a U coach is coaching JB and freshman so two separate teams which would on our stipen schedule indicate that they should be receiving two separate stipens I don't believe that's happening so how do we handle handle that because I mean if we're if we're giving our schools stipens for all of these different teams and you are taking on the the uh you're coaching two teams. How are we handling that? I mean, in general, we do have some stipens on here where if you're teaching or if you're coaching, excuse
038me, a boys and girls a sport, the same sport, that you get one and a half times one of the stipens rather than two of each. Typically, it's a count matter. You know, the reason why they're teaching um two different sports is because they don't have a full squad, you know, either either way. As far as the example of freshman and junior high, you know, to be honest with you, I'm not junior varsity. Oh, junior varsity, excuse me. Yeah, you're right. Um, I need to get more information to look into it and follow up with you on that. If you have an example, if you have an example, would you mind sharing that with me? Well, I'll just tell I'm sure she won't. I'm sure she won't. Oh, I can share it on here. I
039don't think she's she's uh no longer working for Mesa. Um but my daughter was a JB basketball coach for girls at Dobson and she was coaching the freshman team and uh I believe she just got one stipened although there had been another JV co or another coach splated for freshman that didn't that didn't do it. So, I know that they have the stipen. I'll look I'll might have gotten it and didn't pay attention, but what I'll look into it and follow up with the board. Yeah, it's just a I mean, if if we have the stipens available and you have uh and I don't believe it was a lack of um roster. I I don't think Miss Mr. Wang. Yeah, if I if I may, President Davis, for one second here, I appreciate you looking
040into that. Uh and and uh we'll we'll learn more on the followup. What what we what we need to continue to work with, we're going to do a stipen audit this summer from a third party company that comes in and audits our complete stipen list. And I think it's really important because this links to something that's running through a variety of different things in Mesa Public Schools. Um and it links to this idea that participation is so key. You know, if you want to preserve your sections as a teacher, it's really important that you go out and you make sure and ensure that kids are signing up for your class. I often had this pressure as an AP statistics teacher. Um, you know, if I wanted sections of my AP stats class to make, I
041had to make sure kids signed up to take AP stats. I had to make my content relevant. I had to make it rigorous. I had to build relationships and I had to recruit kids into that class. The reason I'm suggesting uh that the stipen audit is going to be important in this manner is as we continue to work with athletics, one of the key elements we need to convince our coaches of is that participation matters. And what I hear a little bit of is, you know, when when when when you can't make a freshman and a JV team, you know, you often combine those teams and they have the same practice and the only things may be different is you have to coach in two games. But part of my questioning techniques roll back to
042how do we get coaches, how do we get staff to continue to encourage participation so we don't have to have joint stipens like this so we can actually have a freshman team and actually have a JV team and stipens don't have to be combined. My whole point being I appreciate you wanting to look into it but we're going to have to continue to wonder and think about how involvement and what kids are demanding participation in matters. It matters a lot. And so we're going to have to continue to work with our school administrators and all of our coaches and all those people collecting stipens to help people understand the more we can do to get kids in and encourage kids to be involved, the better off those kids are going to be and the better
043off our system is going to be at large. Thanks for looking into it, Mr. Winnie. Yeah, welcome. Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kerbo, will you please take our vote? Sorry. Can I do one more? Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, I didn't see you. Can I Can I suggest a stipen for next year that we consider? Is this the appropriate time or should I just do that individually with you, Dr. Strong? I would prefer that be individual. What we think's going to ha what we think's going to happen is we think the stipen audit's going to tell us some things and then and then we think we're going to probably have to put together a design team around stipens so that we can consider these stipens as a whole. Please remember that
044one one of our efforts in this first phase is to try to get as many school uh schoolbased personnel preserved as we possibly can. And that's why it's really important to examine the approximately $40 million we spend a year on stipens and understand exactly what we're getting for the stipens that we're paying for. Uh once that happens, then your feedback along with a design team, we can get that integrated in a process so we can continue to create really efficient stipen schedules. and and and the goal, just to be frank, will be to understand how we're spending those dollars and stipens so we can preserve as many jobs in Mesa public schools as we possibly can headed into the 2627 school year. So, if you could give that to me in a one-on-one fashion, that
045be great. Yep, we'll do. Thank you. Thank you all. Okay, Miss Kirby, I think we're ready for a vote. with a vote of five yays. We have approved the 202526 stipened and temporary salary schedule. Moving on to our compensation plan. Do I have a motion to approve the 202526 compensation plan? So moved. Do I have a second? seconded. Thank you. Mr. W, will you please share your presentation with us? Certainly. While you're pulling that up, I just want to thank the uh meet and confer team comprised of certified personnel, classified hourly, classified salaried administrators, district representatives, um probably about 25 of us meeting regularly from November until just recently. So, I want to thank them for their diligence and their time. So here are our recommendations. You go ahead and go to the next slide.
046I'll start off with a recommendation from me confirm. This was a recent one and that is to provide a n $900 onetime payment for returning employees next school year. It will be prrated on FTE. So a half-time individual would receive half of that $900, but all full-time regardless of role will receive $900. A little over $4 million will be paid from our classroom site fund and that'll be applied to eligible certified employees. And in our most recent governing board meeting, Mr. Thompson shared with you that the state provided us one-time M dollars. Uh that will not be ongoing, budgeted only for next year. Me Confer leveraged that in our recent meeting to provide one-time fund uh onetime payment to non-eligible classroom site fund folks. So, in all in all, a $900 stipend for returning employees.
047This will not be applicable to new employees. However, next slide. Recommendation B. Currently, staff have one opportunity to submit college credit completions to human resources for a salary adjustment. Uh, Mika Fur recommended that we add one in the middle of the year. So now that we have two, this just avoids somebody having to complete a college credit late July and has to wait 12 months before the salary adjustment. There'll be a mid-year um opportunity for those individuals. Next, this one's a one-year only recommendation. It's for four different job titles within Mesa Public Schools. really focusing on the secretary and the registar or office specialist at elementary and junior high schools those who are less than 12 month currently they do not work the day following fall break and winter break and meek at fur is
048recommending next year only allowing those office personnel to to work those days following those breaks st uh teachers are on campus administrators on campus it's a non- studentent day however recommendation Uh Mikur is recommending that we cap an hourly rate for 9 month classified employees who accept temporary jobs outside of their normal job during the summer. So, you may have bus drivers, uh, instructional aids, for example, uh, completing different tasks that that's outside their normal job description during the 9month setting. And MAF for is recommending that they receive their currently hour current hourly rate not to exceed $25 per hour. And then finally, recommendation E is to establish salary schedules similar to the stipen salary schedule. the governing board you just approved. This one would be salary schedules for all of our other pay grades.
049Uh these salary schedules will include starting and ending salaries per pay grade. Uh the memorandum uh presented to you shows the visuals and the details uh of those or each salary schedule, excuse me. Our intention is to bring to you those salary schedules every year moving forward with me confir making recommendations to it if applicable. Uh I will share also that communication is intended to go out tomorrow to all staff regarding uh these recommendations and the results uh uh tonight's decision regarding them. Just wanted to give everybody an update because school has let out last week and I'm open to any questions. Thank you Mr. Wing. Board members, any questions? Um, I've got a question. Well, not really a question. I just have some comments actually. So, one is I I really like that we
050have the salary ranges listed. I think that uh, you know, the board and the district has been striving for greater transparency. We're able to see that transparency. We have more contracts listed as action items as opposed to the consent agenda. And it really plays into that here with the salary ranges. So the public knows and everyone knows what's the minimum and what's the maximum for that salary range. It is something that uh you know our superintendency knows this is very common across industries out in the workforce in the private sector especially the the public sector like all government jobs have have have pay grades listed uh for that transparency but I also think that it's empowering for employees so that when they're looking at a job they know what the maximum or the minimum is
051for for that job and and that can help them plan um for maybe extra extra schooling or extra work they want to do. If there's a a career they want to progress into or a salary range they want to progress into, it's already spelled out in this documentation. So, I think that's that's really important as well. Um adding that extra day that's been asked for just I almost think of it as a pilot. I know it's not officially a pilot, but saying we're going to try this out, but it's just for the one school year. I I I think that's a good move, too. So, I think it's always important that we're open to um to piloting things, especially when our the employees are asking for it. And I was told earlier today, there's no
052shortage of work for a principal. And no matter what's going on, if you give them a day of work, they're going to find stuff that that they need to do. So, I I think these are all good changes. Um you know, I know everyone wants to to pay employees more. I'll just add, you know, the board doesn't get get paid. So, um, just throwing that out there, but we are I feel like I can tell from my colleagues like really sympathetic to to costs and inflation and price increases and everybody is really on board with wanting to uh to give raises and do whatever we can. And while there's not an actual pay increase, I I know that if there is unexpected monies that come in or something in the budget that we then have
053the right to meet again and uh discuss if there's more that we can give to employee employee benefits and and raises. So just just throwing that out there for people that may forget or not know. We can always uh if there's unexpected monies, come back to the drawing table and try to offer more. It's always an option. So that was all just good feedback. No questions. Thank you for that feedback. Any other questions, discussion? Madame President, if I might. Yes. Yes. Mess. Um I I really I really want to thank the meet and confer teams of MEA, MESPA, MAC, and NASA as well as our HR department. um to be working on November is is um is truly a labor of love. Um and that we have a collaborative agreement where um we heard from
054the two presidents um that they felt respected and um and and that there was great cooperation. And I know Miss Berg mentioned that it honors all employees and I think that that's something that um fills my heart because um this is the first time as a board member I've not been able to offer a raise to our employees. And um and in light of the many lost positions, particularly classified positions, um I think our employees are showing a lot of grace in that um they did not um um seek a raise and that they tried to save contracts instead, the contracts of their colleagues. Um and and this is only, I hope, going to serve our children. But I think we all need to realize that the um contracts that were saved, we're expecting more
055work and and I hope that the $900 um demonstrates a will of this board um to to honor them. And I do want to echo what board member Walden said is that this is not what we um hoped we could offer. We know how hard our employees work to serve our children, but um if there should be an opening, we will gladly reopen um the negotiations and see what we can do for employees. Thank you, Mr. Yes. Yeah. I um too, I really like this hour schedule. I don't know what each um codification is, but is that going to be on the website? It is on our internet page, Mrs. Benson, where everybody internally with an account of Mason Public Schools has access to it. Okay. We're not putting it on the public. No, it's
056post. It'll be provided on job postings for individual jobs. Oh, but it's it's more of an internal um schedule, but like I shared, if we're posting a third grade job, that'll be present in that job posting, the the salary range. Yep. Yep. Okay. And then I have a quick question on um your suggestion number D, the um capping the rate of pay if they're doing summer work at 25 approximately. Is is the thinking behind that if we cap it at 25 um we can have more people working if it's a person that's making 35 for example. Uh you know hopefully I'm speaking well for the Mikafer team. There's a couple reasons. One is our our non-instructional rate for certified teachers is $25 an hour. So we aligned it with uh the teacher rate. Um, and
057that was intentional. So, yeah, you're correct. If you're making $50 an hour and you're doing a temporary job in the summer, that that's a different job outside of your normal 9-month job, um, you'll be paid at the max $25. If you're paid at $21 during the year, you'll continue to earn $21 for that summer. Yep. For that summer, for that summer assignment. Uh, but it was based on the non-instructional rate of a teacher. Okay. Um, and that was probably in there and I just it I it it escaped me. Um, so we do have the possibility what of uh being able to do something more depending upon what the state legislature does. Correct. because it's my understanding that you know our budget pres presentation back in January um was uh such that we you know
058eliminating positions we were going uh the assumption there was that we would not have prop 123 money we will for this year uh the the legislaturator's already uh guaranteed that that it would be backfilled from the general budget is my understanding is that correct I think Mr. Thompson may have to help me out on this one. I am not aware or is that not set in stone yet? I mean, I know whatever like the Prop 123 was paying out became part of the new base level funding. So like what districts were previously receiving for that was going to be is added to the new base level funding that the JBC does. But I think then the Prop 123 like to get additional money from that. There won't be a decision on that this session. That'll
059be next session. Is that what you were asking about, Mrs. Benson? Yes. But but my understanding was that uh the legislature is backfilling from the general um from the general overall budget what we would have gotten from Prop 123 money this year. Is that not right? That's yeah that's that that's added to the new funding that starts for that starts for 2526. So not current school year but next school year. I know right. No next school year. This school year still has Prop 123 covering it. Next year's budget and next year's state budget will have to pick up $300 million that will not be provided any longer by the state trust because 123 has expired. It is it's expiring this this year that we're in. Yeah, we're almost to the end of it. So, it
060feels like it doesn't matter, but it's 2526 that the back fill will begin. Okay. Correct. I think Mr. Mr. Huh? So my Go ahead. Sorry. Oh, just real quick. Mr. Thompson, it was my understanding that that that was built into the baseline JLBC budget building in the governor's budget, but the budget bill hasn't passed yet. Correct. That Yes, that is correct. It is. So the the baseline that the g uh joint legislative budget committee creates which is really where the budget starts at and then negotiates from there already contemplates the 300 million coming from the general fund no longer coming from Prop 123. So um that is expected to be funded at this point and of course we don't have a final decision yet as you said Dr. Strong. Okay. So then my question is
061so our all of our what we've done um from the projected you know why we did a reduction in force was to um save was under the assumption that we would not have that $3 million whatever it was from Prop 123. So if the if the budget goes through and the uh legislature is backfilling it, not from the trust but from the general budget, we will be able to more than likely come back and do something more for our employees. Is that my understanding or am I I never thought No, I I didn't think as a board member the reduction in force had anything to do with Prop 123. I thought it had to do with with declining enrollment and having less of a headcount and just a smaller we had less students so needed
062less staff. That was my impression. I didn't think those two were connected. Well, they are slightly connected because the reduction of force saved us um 17 almost $18 million. Madam President, uh member Benson, let let me let me clarify. Um, I think we're where we're getting a little confused here. The 300 million back fill is is basically the commitment the state has to funding the base level amount per student plus a minimum of 2% andor inflation, but at a minimum they have to do two 2%. That's the 300 million. There's also an additional 75 million. I think that's what you're referring to. The 75 million was originally intended as back pay for the amount that the state had not provided the districts during the recession. That is also currently in the JBC's budget. But whether
063that makes it through or not is more questionable than they by law by by by the initiative that's that have been passed. They have to fund the base level funding. Whether the additional 75 million continues to be funded is more questionable and is not currently contemplated in the in the concepts we've shared with you around what we think the budget might look like. So, okay, we will we'll see how that all plays out. Um we don't have a budget yet but as far as the reduction in force I didn't think that one 123 was related to that. You are correct. Reduction in force was purely on our projections for uh declining enrollment due to demographic reductions in our particular K kindergarten level as we see larger uh high school classes graduate as we just saw
064last week and smaller uh kindergarten classes coming in. That is the number one driving force behind why the decisions to reduce force uh occurred. And then yes and I understand that in that budget presentation I was looking at so the um I was looking at if the and this is may perhaps where I'm not so the um the commitment by the legislature is to ensure that the 2% that is constitutionally required to be pro provided will happen. Uh but the extra percentage that's taken out of the trust is still up in the air. That's correct. Okay. That is not it's not protected and we don't have a budget. So could it be funded? Yes. Will it be funded? We don't know yet. So we have to we have to wait and see if that money
065arrives. When that arrives right now we're you know they're on recession and it could be late in June and these may be decisions that have to be made in July and August. We've kind of been here before where the legislature comes in late with a budget. So, we'll have to just wait and see how this plays out over the next few weeks. Yeah. I think it's helpful to know, too, that the governing board approved uh all of our employment contracts language in a pre further away previous board meeting. And that'll permit us in case something does come up one way or another that we could uh renegotiate if necessary or if the opportunity exists. Madame President, yes. Um I I think I just want to make sure that we clarify as well that Prop um
066also known as a classroom site fund um is only for teachers and and and teachers as defined um by statute. So um it would not it would not apply to all employees only only teachers that are in the classroom. That's I just want to make a clarifying statement there. Thank you for that. Any other questions, comments, discussion? I have one more just uh comment slashquest. So on the pay the pay scales we have a maximum. I just want to confirm and and just publicly so in case other people are wondering we don't have very many employees that are over the maximum for their job but those employees will be transitioned as legacy employees uh when this pay scale goes into effect. Uh is that is that correct? That is correct. The slide deck doesn't go
067through all of the details. If individuals watching this can go to the memorandum that's uh posted on the governing board agenda, they'll see those details, you are correct. Those who are beyond the ending salaries will not lose any wages. Okay. Good. They're considered legacy. Yeah. No, that's good. And and there is that document, you know, uh we had asked like about the pay scale and having to log in, but currently it's out there on the agenda, too. So, anybody can can go and pull up that document, the agenda, and it shows you you're not going to know what the job description number means, but it shows the minimum and and maximum ranges for the different jobs currently. And uh I really like how you we you pushed the ESI start date for these uh for
068these changes to go into effect for people on ESI that it's not until uh September. So that gives people a chance to plan and prepare for their for their ESI and returning salaries. So another another good thing that's in those details too for people that might want to pull up that document and get into the nuts and bolts of it. Thank you. M Miss Chaffy, I believe you had a comment or question. Yep. I just wanted to say that I wanted to echo the sentiments shared earlier. I really appreciate the collaboration and the transparency that this plan represents. So, thank you to everyone who came to the table and talked about it and I appreciate the discussion that we've had tonight. I think it's really um allowed some good information to be shared and I
069appreciate that from all of my board members. Thank you. And I echo everyone too. Um, I just I also want to thank the meet and confer process and all those involved and the collaboration and I hope as as we work together as a board, as a district, as um all of our groups that we can all collaborate together and do what is really best for our students and our staff. And so I appreciate all the work that's been going forth and continue. Um, and with that, I believe we are ready to vote. Miss Kirby. With a vote of 58, we've approved the 202526 compensation plan. Moving into our last item of business. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. Do I have a second? Seconded. The longest seconded we've had tonight
070on the usually our fastest moving item. Um really quick, I know just real quick for discussion. I just want to thank all of those that helped with making this a virtual meeting. Um testing this out to see how this would work. I know back in the co days, this was became a normal thing. Um, but we with the new board and new uh new things, we thought we'd try it out and see how this worked. And I appreciate everyone's patience as we tried this and those that worked hard to work on the um comments and to read those. And if there were issues with those making comments, I would please um please email the board your comments. If we did miss those, I apologize. Um, we were hoping to make this as easy as a
071process for everyone. And I just wanted to thank everyone for their patience and help in doing this meeting tonight. And with that, we uh, Miss Kirby, will you take our vote? With the vote of five days, the meeting is adjourned at 6:24. Thank you all for your participation tonight and your help. And again, note that our next meeting will be a summer start schedule with a five o'clock start time. So, have a wonderful evening. Thanks. You too. Thank you. Evening everyone. Thank you.